My, we technical writers are a touchy lot, no?
I wrote that OO flags "judgement" as an error. I did not write that it was
an error. I think this is a grey area.
Cambridge University Press also gives "judgment" as its first spelling.
It's a
UK dictionary, and as the web site says, "It's bang up to date."
By the way, I'm Puerto Rican (by choice, not by birth), so only "color"
looks right to me.
Best regards,
Lou Iorio
Jean Hollis Weber wrote:
Daniel Carrera wrote:
Lou Iorio wrote:
Should there be a section in the style guide about callouts in
graphics? I've seen several different font choices, borders, etc.
Also, should the style guide refer to a preferred dictionary? For
example, in the
style guide "judgment" is spelled "judgement". OO flags this as a
spelling error,
and the American Heritage dictionary lists "judgement" as an
alternate spelling.
Not big issues, I'll admit.
Disclaimer: I'm not one of the editors :-)
The style guide has both rules and recommendations. I don't see any
inmediate problem with having preferred dictionary or guidelines
about callouts in graphics, as long as they are recommendations.
Especially for the dictionary, because we have said that the
maintainer of the chapter can pick which variation of English is used
for that chapter, as long as it's used consistently.
Sidenote: there are exceptions to this rule, mostly for consistency
with the OOo interface and standard computer terminology.
One variation of Lou's idea is to have two preferred dictionaries.
One for American English and one for International English. And say
that the chapter maintainer can pick either, but apply the choice
consistently. This would be more restrictive than what we have today.
Adding rules has pros (consistency) and cons (complexity, barriers).
Let's see what Jean and Janet say.
Linda and I have been discussing guidelines for callouts in graphics,
because the differences became more noticeable when we put together a
whole book from the individual chapters.
Neither of us have had time to put together a set of guidelines and
some instructions on how to achieve the recommended results. (Daniel
wrote some good instructions for part of this, which I'll incorporate
in the ones I want to put together.) This is one of the many
"enhancement requests" I have in my to-do list for the next edition of
the books.
As for a preferred dictionary, Daniel has explained the situation
regarding spelling. There is a big difference between spelling
*errors* and acceptable spelling *variations* (typically between US
and International English). Janet and I (with input from other members
of OOoAuthors at the time) decided a year ago that as long as any one
chapter is consistent in its use of a spelling variation, then it's
okay. Personally, I don't see a need at this time to choose a
preferred dictionary or two.
Sometime next year we (the group) might revisit the question and vote
on whether to choose one variation of English (probably International)
as a standard for the next edition of the books (and then pick a
preferred dictionary, one that is available online). But not now,
please! Let's get the first edition of the books done first.
Cheers, Jean
